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When a Puerto Rican Wins the Powerball

When a Puerto Rican wins the Powerball, it’s time to invoke the second amendment and load our guns. That is the message that went out when a $564 million Powerball lottery was held on February 11 and one of the three winning tickets was sold in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Almost immediately, Latino Rebels reported a national spate of offensive tweets, which were soon picked up global outlets such as NBC News, Buzzfeed and The Daily Mail, to name a few. Some of the more memorable ones:

“It’s completely outrageous someone from Puerto Rico won the Powerball, thought this was America!”

“Puerto Rico won the Powerball? Thanks, Obama.”

“Since when could you win a Powerball jackpot in Puerto Rico? Don’t they use the Euro as currency?”

Other tweets were written in language too offensive, or grammatically inept, to print. The legality of Powerball in Puerto Rico is beyond question: the island is a U.S. territory, and its inhabitants are U.S. citizens. But the animus behind these tweets —particularly the unprintable ones— indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship between Puerto Rico and the U.S.

Let’s try to correct that.

The U.S. “liberated” Puerto Rico from Spain in 1898. Later that same year, Hurricane San Ciriaco destroyed thousands of the island’s farms and nearly the entire year’s coffee crop. Of 50 million pounds, only five million were saved.

American hurricane relief was bizarre. The U.S. government sent no money. Instead, the following year it outlawed all Puerto Rican currency and declared the island’s peso, whose international value was equal to the U.S. dollar, to be worth only sixty American cents. Every Puerto Rican lost 40% of his or her money overnight.

In 1901, the U.S. passed the Hollander Act, which raised the taxes on every farmer in Puerto Rico.

With higher taxes, crippled farms, and 40% less cash, the farmers had to borrow money from U.S. banks. But with no usury law restrictions, interest rates were so high that within a decade, the farmers defaulted on their loans and the banks foreclosed on their land.

The U.S., which was undergoing its industrial revolution, then turned a diversified island harvest (coffee, tobacco, sugar, and fruit) into a one-crop, cash-cow economy.

By 1930, all of Puerto Rico’s sugar farms belonged to 41 syndicates. 80% of these were U.S.-owned and the largest four syndicates —Central Guánica, South Puerto Rico, Fajardo Sugar and East Puerto Rico Sugar— were entirely U.S.-owned and covered over half the island’s arable land.

With no money, crops or land, Puerto Ricans sought work in the cities. When the Puerto Rican legislature enacted a minimum-wage law like the one in America, the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. This decision was reached despite AFL-CIO President Samuel Gompers’ testimony that “the salaries paid to Puerto Ricans are now less than 50% what they received from the Spanish.”

To make matters worse, U.S. finished products —from rubber bands to radios— were priced 15% to 20% higher on the island than the mainland. Again, Puerto Rico was powerless to enact any price-fixing legislation.

Today, U.S. federal agencies control Puerto Rico’s foreign relations, customs, immigration, postal system, radio, TV, transportation, Social Security, military, maritime laws, banks, commerce, currency and defense. That’s without the people of Puerto Rico having a vote in U.S. elections.

The U.S. did give Puerto Ricans one gift. Over the objection of the Puerto Rican legislature, Puerto Ricans were declared U.S. citizens in 1917, just in time for military conscription into World War I.

For decades, the extent of military control over the island was particularly striking. No one could drive five miles in any direction without running into an Army base, nuclear site or tracking station. The Pentagon controlled 13% of Puerto Rico’s land and operated five atomic missile bases.

The island of Vieques, after 62 years of non-stop bombing, resembled an asteroid more than an island. From 1984 through 1998, over 1,300 warships and 4,200 aircraft used the island for target practice, and pounded it with 80 million pounds of ordnance. In 1998 alone, 23,000 bombs were dropped on Vieques.

In 2014, the U.S. Congress finally recognized the 65th Infantry Regiment —also known as the Borinqueneers— for their service in every U.S. conflict since World War I. In Korea, Vietnam and Iraq, this service meant disproportionately high casualties and deaths, since the Borinqueneers were frequently – and sometimes maliciously – assigned to the front lines. The Borinqueneers received the Congressional Gold Medal for the blood they spilled, while defending America.

It is thus clear that when a Puerto Rican pays for a lottery ticket and manages to win, that person has nothing to be ashamed about. They are not a second-class lottery winner… or a second-class citizen.

It is equally clear that the U.S. public education system has some serious holes in it, when a nation so sadly misunderstands eight million of its own citizens.

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Raúl and many US citizens do not know that Puerto Rico exists, where it exists and the relationship with USA. Raúl and US citizens do not know the history of Puerto Rico and the US colonial relationship with the island. They do not know the different contributions of Puerto Ricans to his nation, from WWI to Afghanistan, economics, arts, sports, education, health, etc. They do not know that Puerto Ricans are US citizens, fight in their wars and pay federal taxes. They do not know that Puerto Ricans are not entitled to vote for the President of USA. No representation no taxation. But do pay federal taxes and much more than you may know. Do not bother with my English, I speak, write, read and understand it as a third language, because I have no need for it as a first language.

Did you know that on Puerto Rican pride day in NYC, locals flee the city as to not be subjected to the obnoxiousness that comes so naturally to them. They are loud, dirty, violent, often high or on drugs, and urinate / dedicate in the streets. They can all go to hell.

@Raul Castillo What an obnoxious moron you are, Mr. Raul Castillo. First go learn the real facts about the Puerto Rican Day parade and then memorize them well. Then go teach them to your children so they will grow up to be productive members of society - and given them a chance to break the perpetual moronic cycle that seems to crown your ignorance. The subject here is the Powerball!!! - not the Puerto Rican Day parade. What a stupid moron!

The Irish are much worst but still we embrace them or any other culture that accepts us. And no one leaves so your just spreading lies. We are superior to your dying type and within your death throws you just want to go out with a bang using the Puerto Ricans. Too bad you lost.Your just to dumb to realize this. A tip... Buy a rope, your smart you can figure out the rest.

Were United Citizen ?.......Then why do our folks on the Island can not vote for President....? Why isn't there no representative with a vote in the House or Senate?.....But yet we have been in American Wars since WW1..What your article omits to say we are a "Colony of the United States " with limited powers of self government...Less then given to Micronesia...We need change..

My comment is for all US Citizens and for all the School Districts in the Main Land, ie, USA

. Puerto Rico as a Settlement it is the Oldest settlement under the US Flag. US was colonized by a myriad of Ethnic Groups. The same movement arrived to Puerto Rico and still coming. Please correct your curriculums, text books, Etc.

The bottom line is that we are all members of the Human Race and we need to hold hands together before our Modern Society collapses.

Where exactly are you getting these statistics from Raul? The Klan? I will end this argument by asking you to inquire within NASA and see for yourself that of all Hispanics working there at least 75% of the are from Puerto Rico or of Puerto Rican decent. Further more judging from your statements written here it is very likely that you are just a sad little troll with a very pathetic existence. I only urge everyone here not to listen to you and just sit back and enjoy you as your inbreeding continues to show. GOD Bless.

Of NASA's 833 astronauts, 11 of them are Hispanic or 1%. Of those 11, only one has Puerto Rican descent (born in the USA). Technically, NASA never had a Puerto Rican astronaut. If you count the one who was born in the USA, then one tenth of one percent of NASA's astronauts are "Puerto Rican". Congratulations.

@MiguelAngelDiaz Miguel, this one it's just another "hater" that wish he could be us!!! 😂 ignorant? No! Haters yes!!! He talk all this about us, cuz we have what he wish in his wild dreams to be, a USA citizen since birth like us, so you see my dear boricua brother, don't waste your precious time in this tostaó that only want attention. We Puerto Rican know who we are, an how many Puerto Rican had died since the USA enter our island! Freedom it's not free!! An either our USA citizen.. !!!! I don't waste my precious time, in haters like this one mi hermano. So el puede write any thing he want about what I just said to you. Cuz as I said; I would not waste more of my precious time, in wanna be like this one!!! 😂 😂 😂 I'M PROUD TO BE BORN IN BORINQUEN BELLA!!! AN PROUD TO HAVE WHAT MANY PUERTO RICAN BROTHERS & NOW ALSO SISTERS TOO, PAID WITH THE BLOOD IN SO MANY WAR; MY USA CITIZEN!!!

Funny how the article fails to mention that PR pays absolutly nothing in federal income tax. Forget about the fact that most Puerto Ricans in America are loud and obnoxious, lazy, on welfare, and lag behind other Hispanic groups in every index of economic and social progress. Puerto Ricans have the highest rate of mental illness than any other ethnic group, drug and alcohol abuse account for 1 in every 5 deaths between ages of 15-44, puerto rican children are the most likely to be placed in foster care and remain there the longest compared to blacks and whites. The irony is that they all act like they are God's gift to Earth. Puerto Ricans are worthless parasites. Lotto or no lotto.

@Raul Castillo All i see coming from you is envy and hate, cause PUERTORICANS are better than you,maybe you and your family are illegal in this country and hate to accept that Puertorican are americans.

Denying reality is not only ignorant, it does disservice to Puerto Ricans to pretend there isn't a problem. I would implore you to do some research, but I suspect you are Puerto Rican yourself. Research shows that only 30% of you graduate highschool and 16% of that 30% continue on to college.

Would you so kindly expose and reference the study, paper or website your "facts" come from?? Puerto Rico is one island The United States of America is formed by 50 states some bigger than our little island. Regards and have a nice day...!

@Raul Castillo You sound like a worthless piece of shit. You Are using a Spanish name so you can bring us down with all the lies you stated about Puerto Ricans . Maybe If a Dot head won the lotto it will make you happy. Go back to the rock you crawled out of.

@SandraLopez1@HectorHSanchez@Raul Castillo Sandra we are better than this, do not pay mind to this mindless fool, it is obvious he has no life or worth in life than to try and bring people down with him, ignore the troll and it will go away.

In summary, the chart “Flujo
de Dinero Entre EE. UU. y Puerto Rico: En Millones de Dolares” shows that
in the exchange of funds between the two countries Puerto Rico ends us paying
the US Treasury a net yearly balance of $43 billions – yes, “billions” with ‘b’;
that is, $43,000 millions every year.

Those $43,000 millions/yr come to $118 millions daily, which
represents approximately the amount that the Puerto Rican who bought
the lotto ticket in Barrio Coto Laurel, Ponce, won in that Powerball game.

Read that again:
Puerto Rico deposits a net $118 million EVERY DAY into the US Treasury.

What an utter ignorant this Mr. Raul Castillo is! The reason
that scholarly article doesn't mention your stupid argument is because it is
not true. And his words are a reflection of the utter ignorance of the bulk
majority of Americans who, political indoctrination since elementary school,
know nothing but to repeat the same stupidity he is repeating here.

Facts: Puerto
Rico is a separate taxing entity from the USA and its income tax rates are
set independently. As a result of tax laws – both federal and state – only some residents of Puerto Rico there pay federal income taxes (http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-06-541),
but this is, of course, the same situation as in the US mainland where only some residents
pay federal income taxes.

As if this federal tax brutality wasn’t enough, because the
cutoff point for income taxation is lower per Puerto Rican state law than the
cutoff point in the U.S. per the U.S. IRS code, and because the per-capita
income in Puerto Rico is much lower than the average per-capita income on the
mainland, more Puerto Rico residents pay income taxes to the local taxation
authority than if the IRS code were applied to the island. This occurs because
"the Commonwealth
of Puerto Rico government
has a wider set of responsibilities than do U.S. State and local governments."
(http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-06-541 ).

Furthermore, residents of Puerto Rico
pay into the Social Security, and thus Puerto Ricans are eligible for Social
Security benefits upon retirement. However, Puerto Ricans are excluded from the
Supplemental Security Income (SSI). That is, Puerto Rico residents, unlike
residents of the 50 States, do not receive the SSI (http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.21/handbook-2114.html),
and Puerto Rico actually receives less than 15% of the Medicaid funding it
would normally receive if it were a U.S. state. However, Medicare
providers in Puerto Rico receive less-than-full state-like reimbursements for
services rendered to beneficiaries in Puerto Rico
even though the latter paid fully into the system (http://www.prfaa.com/news/?p=252 ).
In general, many federal social welfare programs have been extended to Puerto
Rican residents, although usually with caps inferior to those allocated to the
states. (Sanford
Levinson and Bartholomew H. Sparrow. “The Louisiana
Purchase and American Expansion: 1803-1898.” New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
2005. p.167 and, for a greater coverage of federal programs made extensive to
Puerto Rico, see Richard Cappalli's “Federal Aid to Puerto Rico” (1970)).

Another misconception is that the import/export taxes collected
by the U.S. on products
manufactured in Puerto Rico are all returned
to the Puerto Rico Treasury. This is not the case. Such import/export taxes are
returned *only* for rum products, and even then the US Treasury keeps a portion
of those taxes (“House Report 110-597 - Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2007”.)

In addition, the Commonwealth
of Puerto Rico also pays into
the US Treasury as a country/territory. For example, in 2009, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico paid $3.742 billion into the
US Treasury(http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/09db05co.xls IRS Gross Collections, by Type of Tax and State, Fiscal year 2009.)

So, Mr. Ignorant Know-it-All Raul Castillo, now that you
know the facts do yourself a favor and teach them to your children so they can
grow a bit more capable than his daddy.

First of all, American owned superstores and enterprises have all dominated the local industries. Federal gov. Aprox... $70,000,000,000 comes from Puerto Rico through different branches. How much do you think the feds give to PR? Secondly, what type of mental illness? Post dramatic stress disorder, bipolarity, depression. It seems to me that have US States have had more massacres, lynchings, and suicides than puerto Rican population. They might have 1/5 child deaths due to racial, and drug violence in white and black America. I'm not saying there aren't lazy and obnoxious ones but to generalize over all... maybe you should educate yourself as to what the fed. Gov actually does down here.

Raul you need to learn how to do research......if anything Puerto Ricans have always made contributions to this country! Further more for your information PR graduate high school and college is over 50% on the island! You much be South America, Central America, Dominican Republic, Cuba, or Mexico. .....cause when people like you speak that way is because they are haters cause you all need A Green Card or Visa to come to America and WE DONT! THAT MAKE A LOT OF PEOPLE REALLY MAD.

IF ANYTHING YOU NEED TO SHUT UP! CAUSE WE HAVE PAVED THE WAY FOR YOU TO BE HERE!

THAT is the problem with Hispanics/ Latinos if we all got along we could be a great force!

Further more you people d on like PR but when you want to become an American you marry a Puerto Rican.....then we are good enough........PR suffered racism long before your kind. We have faught......the battles for you to enjoy a country where you can have running water, toilet, sewer, and a house with a roof top. So check your resources brother cause you are way off........OH AND DONT COME BACK SAY ING YOU ARE PR JUST TO COVER YOUR STUPIDITY! Because if you were PR you would have known your facts and figures. So check yourself cause you just made your kind look stupid!

@HectorHSanchez@Raul Castillo lol, maybe he also read the article about the perfect human being Puertorican and cant deal with the envy! We are indeed God's gift to humanity and we can even win the lotto!!!

Puerto Ricans are Natives of the Americas, and were part of this Colony long before Europeans arrived. The Marines invaded Puerto Rico because of its strategic position. America also invaded and occupied Hawaii before forcing them into Statehood. Now when you go to Hawaii the Natives there are either gone or living in poverty. Native Americans have at least 20,000 years of living in the America's before Colonization. Columbus found a people thriving in a pristine environment where no one was sick, homeless, or hungry. They quickly changed that by bringing sickness to the people and environmental disaster to the land. Natives traveled throughout the Caribbean, in North and South America. My Native Ancestors were from Columbia South America, but they were slaves in Columbia South Carolina. They had languages before Europeans arrived and a culture which was lost not through choice but force. I see all of the peoples of the Americas as the First Families. I hope more people win the lottery and come to the US from our neighbors to the South. You are not immigrants you are the First Families and you don't owe an apology to anyone!

@bwdn2008 I know, it is a shame that our entire culture was put to waste and lost because of an inferior pale race who's only attribute was greed. Sadly I have a direct cultural connection to these raiders in my veins and we all must make the best of it by admitting to this and making up for it through recognition. I will never forget that I have lineage to the superior Taino race.

I like this and it is true what you saying and they are doing the same to Puerto Rico. But what goes around comes around. I just got back from Puerto Rico 3 days ago. Most of its are uneducated about what a beautiful island we have. The youth don't see or protect what we have.

@Lagueadisima Friend, Don Pedro Albizu Campo said once that the beast (USA) had to know it from his guts. If you do not know the language of your enemy, culture and psyche, how you can fight. In the fight for freedom you fight on all fronts available, we are also in the XXI century, cannon, rifle and bayonet, were changed by the verb, democratic processes and diplomatic strategies. From strength to strength we are at a disadvantage, but intellect and reasoning we are in advantage as we assists us the truth.